Brandywine schools to see new policies

June 20, 2006|YaSHEKIA SMALLS Tribune Staff Writer

NILES -- Two new buses and several student policy changes -- from the dress code to the code of conduct -- will greet students in the Brandywine Community Schools district next year. The district, which has not replaced buses in two years, bought two used 2005 Blue Bird buses from Midwest Transit at a discounted $49,300 apiece, Sue Furney, director of finance and operations, said Monday night. The 78-passenger buses, which both have 24,000 miles on them, are the newest in the district after state police during an inspection last school year noted that a couple of buses required repairs, Furney said. A new bus would cost between $65,000 and $70,000, with a 2007 model costing at least $7,000 more because of new stringent laws on air pollution control, Furney said. Brandywine Community Schools officials are hoping to finance bids from various banks for the new buses, she said. The bus purchases recommendation will be brought before the school board during the first meeting in July. Changes at Merritt Elementary School next year include several defined categories of discipline in the student handbook's code of conduct. The categories range from minimal disruption to more disturbance, physical aggression and breaking the law, Principal Karen Weimer said. School officials will also plan more steps of intervention, in addition to changing from after-school detentions to lunchtime detentions, where most students would be deterred from being with their friends, Weimer said. "We think that would have more of a lasting effect than staying after school," she said. At Brandywine Elementary School, officials will place greater emphasis on writing and language arts next year, as well as use an online grade book and report card to more carefully monitor absences and crack down on cell phone use at school, Principal Tim Bagby said. In addition, shorts and skirts cannot be worn above a student's fingertips as measured when a student's hands are at her sides, and the grading scale will drop one point from 95 percent being an "A" to 94 percent, he said. At Brandywine Middle/High School, Saturday and Wednesday night detentions will last three hours, and students will begin paying $10 for car tags, officials said. "That way, we will be better able to keep track of who is in the parking lot and whose vehicles are which," Principal Greg Jones said. In other news, Brandywine schools are looking at providing less high-fat content for a la carte products during lunch, as well as incorporating the student wellness policy into the curriculum, Furney said.